Personal Budgets

All families whose child has an Education, Health and Care Plan will have a right to request a personal budget

What is a Personal Budget?

When a child or young person has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, or when the local authority is in the process of preparing an EHC Plan, the parent and young person will have the right to request a personal budget. A personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver some or all of the provision set out in an EHC Plan. This should be made clear to parents and carers so that they can be involved in any decision making and can also control elements of their education, health and care support where direct payments are available.

Types of Personal Budget

There are different types of personal budgets, including:

A personal social care budget: This will be made available if a child or young person is assessed as needing additional and individual support at home and when out and about in the local and wider community.

A personal health budget: This will be made available if a child or young person has a complex, long term and/or life-limiting condition. It may also be made available to help with equipment costs and other health services.

A personal SEN budget: This is an additional (top-up) sum of money made available by a local authority when it is clear that it will not otherwise be possible meet a child’s learning support needs.

Personal budgets can be managed in one or more of the following ways:

A direct payment: The family can choose to take part of the personal budget as a direct payment and manage it themselves (with optional support) for certain components of the overall budget which are “cash releasable”.

An organisation/third party: The family can ask an organisation or third party to manage the budget on their behalf

The local authority: The family can ask the local authority to manage the budget on their behalf.

A combination of the above: The family can choose to have the budget split and managed by all three options above.

How to Request a Personal Budget:

A personal budget can be requested by a parent or young person over the age of 16 once an EHC Plan has been agreed, but it can only be used for provision set out in the Plan. This does not, however, mean that all requests will be granted. A parent or young person can also choose not to have a personal budget.